Zing-smelting furnace



N0. 6l2,|04. Patented Hot. N, I898.

. E. Cfl-HEGELEB.

ZINC SMELTING FURNACE.

(Apphcatwn fll d May!) 1898) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

No. 6l2,l04. Patented Oct. ll, I898.

' .HEGELER.

ZINC ELTING FURNACE.

(Application filed May 9, 1898.)

(No Model.) 2 sheetsrsheet 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD C. I-IEGELER, OF LA SALLE, ILLINOIS.

ZlNC-SMELTING FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 612,104, dated October11, 1898. I Application filed May 9, 1898. Serial No. 680,122. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD O. HEGELER, of La Salle, in the county of LaSalle and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and usefulImprovements in Zinc-smelting Furnaces, of which the following is aspecification. i

This invention relates to zinc-furnaces of the Belgian type, in whichthe fire-gases pass successively through between a large number ofretorts and the heat is regulated throughout the furnace by the gradualmixture of the constituent parts of the firegases and the regulation ofthe forward movement of the draft through between the retorts iseffected by the resistance of the retorts or other means, as walls ordams, adapted thereto. In these furnaces the fire-gases entering betweenthe retorts come either from a direct coal-fire or are producer-gasesalready partially burned through the introduction of air in the fluecoming from the producer, so as to have the n ceded temperature for zincdistillation when they reach the first retorts, and when they enterbetween and pass the first retorts contain still a large amount ofcombustible gases, and further on air is repeatedly let into the furnaceto burn the combustible parts of the fire-gases. If now a concentratedcombustible gas, as natural gas, is usedfor heating the furnace, theregulation of the draft becomes diflicult in consequence of the smallervolume of the fire-gases, and, further, another difficulty arises inthis that soot is formed and deposited on the retorts, obstructing thedraft between them and making them less permeable to the heat." It isthe object of my improvement to overcome these difficuh ties, and tothis end I provide a retort-chamber witha large entrance-opening inorder to introduce through a fiue of some length the whole or theprincipal amount of air which is to be consumed in the furnace in onebody at the place where heretofore the whole amount of the fire-gasesusually enterthe same and introduce and burn in this flue so much gas asis required to raise the temperature to the required height at the firstretorts and further on introduce additional supplies of gas at differentpoints of the retort-chamber to keep the temperature up as wanted in allparts thereof. The resulting fire-gases of the first burning in the fluecontain still a large amount of free oxygen, and after they have passeda number of retorts and given off part of their heat the additionalsupplies of gas are, introduced into them to increase the temperature,and this I can repeat until all the oxygen of the fire-gases isconsumed. It can be determined when the oxygen is all consumed byobserving that the escaping gases at the exit end of the retortchambershow signs of burning (in consequence of their containing somecombustible gas which did not meet with oxygen in the fire-gases) asthey come in contact with the outer atmosphere. v i

I attain the object by means of a retortchamber adapted to take in alarge volume of air at the entrance end of the chamber and cause it passthrough the chamber to the outer or exit end thereof, an air-fluecommunicating with the entrance-opening of the chamher, and a system ofgas-pipes in combination therewith arranged to introduce gas into theair-flue near the entrance-opening of the chamber and to distributegasto the various parts of the chamber where it, is to be burned forproducing thedesired. temperature throughout the chamber at all points.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure l is a fragmentary side elevation, partly in section, showing theentrance-opening in connection with the air-flue, and the exit-opening,some of the intermediate portions being broken away. Fig. 2 is atransverse section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevationshowing the arrangement of gas-pipes for admitting gas to the air-flue.

In the drawings, A is the retort-chamber, provided with a large openingat a.

B is the air-flue, that portion of it which immediately joins theretort-chamber being made of brickwork and the other portion B beingmade of sheet iron and provided with a regulating-valve b, thesheet-iron portion being preferably connected with the brick portion bymeans of a series of smaller sheetiron pipes 19 entering throughseparate openings in the brickwork, as shown in Fig. 2.

At the opposite end of the retort-chamber is the exit-opening a, whichdischarges into a chimney or pipe A, suspended over the exit,

- with intervening open space which allows the escaping flame from theexit to be seen.

0 O are the retorts, which are arranged with open spaces 0 between themfor the passage of air around and between the retorts. The retorts arepreferably arranged in groups with open spaces at D between them.

E is a large gas-pipe connected with a source of gas-supply (not shown)and under suitable pressure. This pipe is connected with theretort-chamber by means of small pipes e,

which enter through holes 0 in the wall of the retort-chamber into theopen spaces at D between the groups of retorts, and e are similar smallpipes (but somewhat larger than the pipes e) which enter the brickportion B of the air-flue, as shown in Fig. 1. Each of the small pipes ee is provided with a cock 6 or shut-off, by which the amount of .gasentering the air-flue and retort-chamber may be regulated. 'The openings0' through the walls of the air-flue and of the chamber are builtsomewhat larger than the diameter of the gas-pipes e e, and their sizeis regulated with plastic fire-clay, and said gas-pipes are sufficientlyflexible so that they may be pulled out of the said openings and turnedto one side for looking in and regulating the opening in the wall whennecessary, the joints between the pipes and their openings being closedtight with plastic fireclay filled in around the pipes. Thecrosssectional area of the fire-brick part of the airflue should not bemuch less-than the cross sectional area of all the open spaces 0 of theretort-chamber between the retorts. Only the requisite amount of gas isadmitted into each of the open spaces in the brick portion of theair-flue and the spaces at 1) between the groups of retorts which willproduce heat sufficient to supply the group of retorts immediately inadvance of said several open spaces, so that free oxygen will be met atall or said spaces to mlxwith the combustible gas entering there andcomplete combustion of the gas will occur at all points through thecombustion-chamber. In this manner the entire space within theretort-chamber can be heated uniformly, the lowermost retorts beingheated as easily as the upper ones.

Either hot or cold air may be used. The means for forcing the air may bea fan (not shown) or any of the well-known means in connection with theair-flue for forcing the air therefrom into the combustion-chamber, andit is contemplated that the main pipe is to be connected with asupply-tank containing gas under sufficient pressure to deliver the gasthrough all of the small pipes into the air-flue just before theentrance-opening of the retort-chamber and into the open spaces betweenthe group of retorts in the chamber. It is obvious that some air mightbe introduced with the-gas by means of Bunsen burners at the variouspoints where gas is to be introduced into the combustion-chamber withoutdeparting from the principle of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, What Iclaim is- In azinc-furnace of the class mentioned, the combination with aretort'chamber having a large entrance-opening at one end and anexit-opening at the other end, of a large air-flue connected with theentrance-opening of the chamber, a system of gas-pipes arranged andadapted to distribute the requisite

